For the past 52 years since 1973 when Sweden enacted the first national data privacy law, countries around the world have enacted new data privacy laws at an average rate of 3.3 new countries per year, giving a total of 172 laws by March 2025. Since 2020 the average number of new laws per year has risen to 5.4. The table lists the countries year-by-year since 1973.

The table lists national laws known as at 15 March 2025.(1) The title of the law, its location, and other details are published in a periodically updated table.(2) The texts of most of the laws, also updated periodically, can be found in the National Data Privacy Legislation database located on the WorldLII system,(3) indexed under the name of the country concerned.